Chinese Firms Shrug at Rising Debt

By

Dinny McMahon And

Colum Murphy

Updated Feb. 4, 2013 7:20 p.m. ET

Chen Qiang runs a Chinese shipbuilding company that expects to post a net loss for 2012 and whose $4.5 billion in debt is six times what it was three years ago. In the first half of last year it received only two new orders.

Mr. Chen is unfazed. The chief executive of China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings Ltd. plans to maintain staffing levels and even start hiring globally as part of efforts to win orders for ships used in...